Jayson Jacobs, 16, left, and Shannon Gonzales, 17, use the computers in the library media center at Menasha High School Monday, April 1, 2013, in Menasha. / Dan Powers/Post-Crescent Media

Menasha High School. / Dan Powers/Post-Crescent Media

By the numbers

• $3.4 billion: The total amount of money Wisconsin taxpayers approved through referendums to issue debt for school construction, renovation and building maintenance between 1994 and 2012. • 39: The percentage of school referendums to issue debt between 2009 and 2012 that funded maintenance work. By comparison, 4 percent of referendums to issue debt between 1994 and 1997 funded maintenance work. • 151: The number of school referendums attempted between 1994 and 1997 to construct new buildings. That number fell to 14 referendum attempts between 2009 and 2012. • 236: The number of attempted school referendums to exceed revenue caps between 1994 and 2012 that identify maintenance projects as a reason for seeking the money. Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction data

Maintenance and building referendums approved Tuesday

District

Amount

Purpose

Menasha

$29,995,000

School remodeling

Menomonie Area

$36,000,000

Maintenance, school remodeling

Pulaski

$4,370,000

Maintenance

Somerset

$7,950,000

School remodeling

Osceola

$3,000,000

Building remodeling

Mount Horeb Area

$6,170,000

Maintenance

Lake Holcombe

$2,025,000

Maintenance

Hortonville

$24,455,000

New construction

Cashton

$12,310,000

School remodeling

Brodhead

$2,400,000

Maintenance

Blair-Taylor

$16,985,000

School remodeling

Bristol #1

$5,300,000

School remodeling, expansion

Desoto Area

$4,950,000

School remodeling

Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Referendums listed may fund more than maintenance.

Old inefficient boilers are a big problem in many school districts. Oshkosh West's boilers date back to when the school was built in 1961. They once had three of them now two are used. They will be replaced by a more efficient system and smaller boilers. / JOE SIENKIEWICZ/Oshkosh Northwestern Media

Oshkosh West Building Custodian III Steve Adler test the boiler water to make sure it is with in the guidelines. He tests for PH, Sulfates and solids in the boiler water. If something is off it could cause problems for the boilers. / JOE SIENKIEWICZ/Oshkosh Northwestern Media

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A boiler failure shut down Oakwood Elementary, a 60-year-old school in Oshkosh, and forced 100 kids to squeeze into another building for weeks in 2009.

Gaping holes in the Pulaski Middle School roof are causing leaks in classrooms during rainstorms, risking damage to electrical components and the structure. The building is more than 50 years old.

Numerous problems at the 100-year-old Washington Elementary School in Sheboygan prompted school leaders in March to recommend closing the doors because the building has deteriorated beyond repair.

Such stories have become common across Wisconsin as the condition of schools deteriorates. Many districts put off preventive maintenance efforts for more than a decade, hoping to shield programs from perennial budget cuts. Some schools eroded their upkeep funds to zero. Others face backlogs of maintenance work, creating imminent safety risks. Few districts have enough money to pay for all the fixes.

“I’m often sleepless at night wondering what will happen if our boilers go down again. What will we do with all those kids?” asked Randy Johnston, buildings and grounds director for the Oshkosh Area School District.

School leaders across Wisconsin warn problems will worsen as the first round of major maintenance repairs comes due on a fleet of schools built during a 1990s construction boom. From 1994-2000, communities approved $547 million in new or expanded facilities across the state, data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction shows.

“The truth is, we built a lot,” said Neillsville School District Administrator John Gaier. “Now, close to 15 to 20 years later, we have to do some maintenance on these new facilities, and the truth of the matter is … the money is not there.”

State restrictions on revenue growth have put districts in the difficult position of cutting services families expect or asking local property owners to pick up a greater share of the cost, said Dale Knapp, research director for the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.

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As a consequence, taxpayers can expect schools to increasingly rely on referendums to fund building repairs, Knapp said.

Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed biennial budget holds school revenues flat over the next two years. The only way districts could get more money is by asking taxpayers’ approval, he said.

“Where (else) do you get the money for teacher salaries, supplies and transportation while at the same time maintenance projects?” Knapp asked.

Pleas for taxpayer help are becoming more frequent.

Wisconsin districts went to referendum at least 183 times between 2006 and 2012 to pay for building fixes and upgrades they couldn’t afford. By comparison, districts asked taxpayers to fund maintenance less than 90 times between 1994 and 2000, DPI data shows.

At least 10 districts held referendums to help fund maintenance improvements in Tuesday’s elections. Voters approved five of them, DPI data shows.

Another 20 districts sought money for remodeling or new construction. Voters approved eight of those referendums.

How we got here

Districts across the state slowly whittled away their upkeep budgets over the last decade and a half. Administrators blame revenue limits imposed by the state during the early 1990s. The state allowed increases in revenue each year, but not enough to cover rising costs — primarily union-bargained salary and benefits.

Administrators said collective bargaining laws established in the 1990s locked districts into compensation increases larger than the revenue increases, creating a structural deficit. Districts were forced to either lay off staff — which raised class sizes while cutting programs and services — or defer maintenance to balance budgets.

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Lawmakers killed those bargaining laws in 2010 through the contentious Act 10 bill, which restricted union negotiations to base wage increased no greater than inflation. But they also cut school funding. Districts lowered pay and dropped benefits, but the savings couldn’t fully offset the loss of revenue much less free up dollars for maintenance.

“You used to be able to do preventive maintenance,” said Mark VanDerZee, business director for Menasha Joint School District, where voters on Tuesday approved $30 million in spending on renovations to its high school. “Not any longer.”

Want for funding

By the time Mel Lightner came on board as Pulaski schools’ superintendent in 2009, the small Brown County school district had cut its maintenance budget to zero and built up a multimillion dollar backlog of repair work — including leaking roofs and antiquated boilers.

Lightner led efforts three years ago to create a five-year maintenance plan and freed up some funds by laying off six custodians. The district has since spent a combined $1 million on smaller roof repairs, patching parking lots and some other projects. But, the needs kept piling up, he said. Fully catching up would take nearly 12 percent of the district’s annual $38 million operating budget.

“This has been a battle districts have fought for a long time. In Pulaski it has caught up to us,” Lightner said.

Like many other school leaders, Lightner said he sees a referendum as the only solution.

Pulaski residents narrowly approved a $4.4 million referendum on Tuesday to fund the district’s major maintenance needs, including roof and boiler replacements.

The Green Bay Area Public School District received $11 million in extra taxes to fund maintenance through a 2009 referendum, and district administrators intend to ask for even more within the next year or two, said Alan Wagner, chief financial officer.

The district recently more than doubled its capital projects spending from $1.6 million to $3.5 million, but the funds can’t top the $65 million in identified facility needs, he said.

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The same dilemma faces the Oshkosh school district, where the estimated cost of building repairs falls between $80 million and $100 million, said Johnston, the director of buildings and grounds. That’s as much as the district spends on all general operations combined for an entire year.

But the district can’t put off the work any longer, he said.

For example, the 50-year-old heating system at Oshkosh West High School is 20 years past a typical life expectancy. One of the three boilers in the school broke 10 years ago. If one more goes out, the entire school would lose heat, Johnston said.

Even the district’s newest buildings face major repairs. A capital improvement plan identifies $411,000 in projects, including roof and drainage system repairs, at Carl Traeger Elementary and Middle School, which was built in 1997.

Johnston said he has relied on $6.5 million from a 2009 referendum and another $21.5 million borrowed this year for energy efficiency projects to chisel away at the mountain of needs.

“It would be great to get more help with taxing authority, maybe an increase in the revenue limit,” said Bob Tess, Oshkosh’s business director. “Or, a referendum to supplement that.”

Weighing in

Scott Kenneth Noble of Marshfield said he has heard the call for referendum too many times. Officials in his hometown district have talked for years about renovating, rebuilding or otherwise improving its single middle school, which needs millions of dollars in repairs.

Noble made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Marshfield school board this spring in the hope of changing the district’s spending practices.

“They leave very little budget space to deal with buildings and maintenance,” Noble said. “To me it makes perfect sense to maintain what you have rather than get rid of it and move into another place that’s only going to last 40 years.”

Jim Johanski, a retired Pulaski resident, said he supported the maintenance referendum in his community because he thinks safe, comfortable buildings encourage learning. But, people should hold school board members more accountable in the future to make sure they take care of the schools, he said.

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“I don’t think it matters where you live, but not keeping up with infrastructure — to let it get behind — is not good public policy and not good fiscal responsibility. Usually, the cost of later repairs is more than keeping up with it,” Johanski said.

Waiting on repairs makes sense when it preserves more important services, said Gina Glover, a parent of two elementary school children in Menasha.

“It’s truly no different than what’s happening in the business world,” she said. “They’ve been sitting on capital investments they don’t want to make because of the down economy. Companies sit on these things which they need to do, but they wait because they want to get the most out of their investment. This is not just an education issue.”

State Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, said he would like schools to get more revenue, but he doesn’t think the state would kick in enough to cover preventive maintenance needs.

“We used to say you need to go to referendum for capital buildings. Now people are having to go to referendum for capital (buildings) and also maintenance,” he said. “This is a new paradigm, but I think a lot of states are in that boat, and I think it’s where the future is going to be.”